WHY WE CARE: The Orbit Pavilion inaugurates a new initiative, Five, pairing The Huntington with five different organizations over five years to creatively interpret themes from Huntington collections. Some focus on Southern California’s ties to the advancement of astronomy and aerospace, including the formation of the nearby JPL.

JPL’s Goods and Delgado developed the idea to illustrate the movements of the International Space Station and 19 Earth satellites through artistically created sounds. As each satellite flies overhead through space, 28 speakers mounted to the structures interior wall emit a corresponding sound—such as a human voice, an ocean wave crashing, a swaying tree branch, a croaking frog.

"We wanted a way to showcase these NASA satellites—to bring them down to Earth, if you will," says Goods in a statement. "Orbit is the conduit for that experience, bringing people into contact with the satellites as they move above us in space."

StudioKCA’s Klimoski and Chang conceived and developed the sculpture for last summer’s World Science Festival in New York City; this is its West Coast debut. Oakland audio artist Myrbeck composed the soundscape. Five is supported by Cheng and led by curators Watts and Hess.

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Photos: courtesy of NASA/JPL;

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